Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

The deadly effects of lingering hole in the ozone layer

The ozone hole is ‘rewriting’ Earth’s ecosystems, THE AUSTRALIAN  JONATHAN LEAKE THE TIMES DECEMBER 22, 2014 
 THE ozone hole over Antarctica caused by humanity’s toxic chemical emissions remains as large as ever and is “rewriting” entire ecosystems across Australia, Antarc­tica and South America, scientists have found…….The chemicals were banned but have lingered; the hole forms every year, ­allowing deadly radiation to reach Earth. The ozone hole is one factor behind Australia’s surging skin cancer rates.
diagram-ozone-depletion

Australian scientists have now found the radiation is having much wider effects. “Ecosystem impacts documented so far include changes to growth rates of South American and New Zealand trees, decreased growth of Antarctic mosses and changing biodiversity in Antarctic lakes,” say Sharon Robinson, of Wollongong University in NSW, and David Erickson, from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Because it is no longer absorbing UV light, the stratosphere has cooled, which is reducing air pressure over the South Pole and sucking the southern jetstream southwards, along with its associated weather systems.

That has helped cool the Antarctic and direct more extreme weather towards Australia.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-ozone-hole-is-rewriting-earths-ecosystems/story-fnb64oi6-1227163700598

December 22, 2014 - Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, health

No comments yet.

Leave a comment